by Zara Chase
Chantal laughed. “It’s just a case of learning how to manage them.”
What the heck was that supposed to mean, Caitlyn wondered. Before she could ask, Marvin jumped up onto their table and brushed his face against Chantal’s.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Caitlyn admitted. “He was the most unsociable creature on the planet until we came here. Now he loves everyone.” One of the breakfast crowd walked past their table and paused to scratch his ears. Marvin let out a rattling purr and pushed his head beneath his hand. “See what I mean.”
“Bye, ladies,” the guy said, waving his fingers at them both.
“Thanks, Ryan,” Chantal replied. “See you later.”
“When’s the baby due?” Caitlyn asked when they were alone again.
Chantal wrinkled her nose. “Another four months. I’ll be glad when it’s all over with. Right now my guys won’t let me lift a finger for myself. I keep trying to tell them that I’m pregnant, not sick, but it gets me nowhere.”
Her guys? Them? “Presumably it’s a first baby. All first-time fathers are overprotective.” Well, those who took any interest in their children were, or so Caitlyn was told. She wouldn’t know from personal experience.
“Yes, it’s my first. How about you? Do you have kids?”
“Only Marvin,” she replied, stroking his silky back. “How long have you lived in Impulse, Chantal?”
“A little over a year,” she replied, pouring coffee for them both and a saucer of cream for Marvin.
“He’ll get fat.”
“No, he’ll be fine, won’t you, baby?”
To Caitlyn’s astonishment, Marvin actually withdrew his attention from the cream and focused it on Chantal when she spoke to him.
“Good heavens, I’ve never known anything to distract him from food or drink before.”
“He likes his new home and wants everyone to know it.”
Why did everyone suppose she planned to stay here? “How long did it take you to get used to the weird atmosphere?”
“Oh, it happened almost at once,” Chantal replied, an enigmatic smile lighting up her pretty face. “Impulse is small, but we’re a tight-knit community and we look out for each other. That has to make up for the initial discomfort.”
“I’ve never lived in a small town, but I have to say that in spite of the atmosphere, it does feel kinda comfortable here.”
“You’ve noticed that, have you?”
Yes, she certainly had. She’d noticed other oddities, too. Almost everyone seemed to move with the same feline grace as Jared and Bryce, as though they had no bones in their limbs. She had yet to see anyone who wasn’t extremely good-looking, and they had the oddest way of communicating with one another. The most popular form of greeting appeared to be rubbing faces, and she was sure she saw one of the customers scratching a post with his fingernails just now. He saw her looking and hastily stopped what he was doing, but she definitely hadn’t imagined it. It ought to have freaked her out. Instead she felt almost as though she belonged in this offbeat little place.
“The upside is that we have a lovely climate and no crime,” Chantal said. “The downside, apart from the thin air, is that everyone knows everyone else’s business. I found that tough to cope with at first, but after a while you realize that people aren’t being nosy.” Chantal shrugged and pushed her long hair back over her shoulders. “It’s more a case of caring, which has to be a good thing. Nowadays most people are too wrapped up in their own affairs to worry about anyone else’s.”
“That’s certainly true.”
* * * *
“Fuck!” Jared paced the length of Rafe’s sitting room. “Are you absolutely sure, Vadim?”
“Yeah, sorry, but there’s no doubt.”
“Okay,” Rafe said, “let’s decide what to do about it.”
A short time later, grim yet determined, Jared and Bryce tripped down the stairs, knowing what they’d agreed but with no idea how to bring it about. They found Caitlyn and Marvin still chatting with Chantal. She stood up when she saw them approaching, a question in her eyes.
“What news?” she asked.
“We’ll go home and tell you there.”
“That bad? Now you’ve really got me worried.”
“How you doing?” Mikael came up behind Jared and Bryce and stuck out a large hand. “You won’t remember me, but I attended you last night.”
“This is Mikael, our resident doctor,” Jared told her. “Mikael, meet Caitlyn.”
They shook hands. “I have you to thank for feeling better then,” she said.
“You would have recovered anyway, thanks to these guys. I just made sure you had a nice, restorative sleep.” He glanced at the cut on her forehead, now covered with just a small Band-Aid. “That’s looking better.”
“It feels fine.”
“Come on, honey,” Bryce said. “Let’s get you home.”
This time Caitlyn insisted on covering the short distance under her own steam, appearing mildly euphoric when she made it without having to stop.
“Okay,” she said as soon as they were back in their sitting room and she stood before them, arms akimbo. “I know something’s happened, so out with it.”
* * * *
“Sit down,” Jared said with quiet authority in his tone.
She hadn’t seen either of them looking so serious before. Fear trickled down her spine. Whatever they had to tell her, suddenly she didn’t want to hear it. Mia was dead? She was the main suspect in the murder investigation? The police were on their way to arrest her? Increasingly obscure scenarios played themselves out inside her head, and it was all too much for her. Perhaps she was still suffering from lack of oxygen or the aftereffects of her massage with a difference. Whatever, she didn’t think she could take any more surprises.
She fell onto the nearest couch, telling herself not to be such a wuss. Whatever it was she’d deal with it, just like always. Now wasn’t a good time to start leaning on anyone else, especially not these two. The guys sat across from her, their knees almost touching hers.
“Okay,” she said, trying to hide her fear. “What did Rafe have to tell you?”
“Vadim, in his role as head of security for Impulse, keeps extensive records on all sorts of people,” Jared said, an edge to his voice. “Thanks to your drawing, he was able to identify your policeman.”
“He did?”
Jared ran his fingers through his thick hair and fell to his knees in front of her, reaching for her hand. She allowed him to take it, wondering what could be making him so anxious. It was her life on the line, not his.
“Listen, babe, there’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’m just gonna have to come right out and say it. I didn’t want you to know, not yet, but the way things are I have no choice.”
“You’re scaring me, Jared. Just tell me.”
“Okay.” He inhaled deeply. “Have you noticed anything odd about Impulse?”
“Impulse?” What the hell does Impulse have to do with anything? “Apart from the thin air, you mean.”
“Yes,” Bryce replied. “Apart from that.”
“Since you mention it, while I was chatting with Chantal I did notice that the people seem a bit different. Well, all the ones I’ve met do, anyway.”
“Different in what way?” Jared asked.
She wrinkled her brow. “I’m not sure how to put it into words. The way most of you move, for instance. It makes me think of Marvin. It’s like your feet don’t actually make contact with the ground. ‘Feline grace’ is the phrase that springs to mind. And the way you greet one another, by rubbing cheeks. It’s weird. And oh, I don’t know, there’s something fundamentally different about the atmosphere as a whole, but in a kind of nice way.”
“I’m glad you feel that way.” Jared paused and clutched her two hands between his own. “You see…well, we’re a colony of feline shape-shifters.”
* * * *
They watched her closely for her re
action, which was slow in coming. She blinked twice and then barked a laugh. “Excuse me, just for a moment I thought you said you were shape-shifters.”
“Feline shape-shifters,” Jared corrected. “Bryce and I are alpha cheetahs. Rafe and Vilas, whom you haven’t met yet, are alpha panthers and leaders of the community.”
“Chantal must have put rum in my coffee,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m obviously hallucinating.”
“Think about it, babe. All the things you’ve described point to cats, don’t they?”
“Yes, but—”
“Plus Marvin feels right at home here.”
“Why are you telling me all this rubbish?” she asked irascibly. “Don’t you think I’ve got enough to deal with right now?”
“Which is precisely why we have to tell you. We wouldn’t have done it otherwise.” Jared slid onto the couch beside her, still holding her hands. He sensed that she wanted to snatch hers away, but she didn’t actually do so. “What you have to understand is that shape-shifters aren’t just the product of Hollywood directors’ overactive imaginations. They exist all over the world, mixing with humans on a daily basis. I’ll bet the farm that you’ve come into contact with more than one and never knew it.”
She shrugged. “If you say so.”
“The difference with Impulse is that our thin air possesses qualities highly beneficial to shifters and is coveted by our enemies.”
“Oh please!”
“Hear me out, babe. We do a lot of good here. Mikael, who you met earlier, can cure illnesses in kids that would otherwise be terminal.”
“Then why haven’t I read anything about that? The media would be all over it.”
“Which is precisely why you haven’t heard,” Bryce said. “Can you imagine what would happen to our little community if it became public knowledge? We’d be inundated by newshounds and people desperate to be cured. We can’t help everyone, and we don’t want to be turned into a freaking sideshow.”
“I can’t believe I’m actually hearing this.” She rotated her head, as though trying to rid her shoulders of stress. “What’s worse is that I’m actually starting to believe you.”
“It’s true. One of us will shift for you if that’s what it’ll take,” Bryce said.
“Okay, so you cure childhood illnesses and don’t want the world to know. How do you stop those that are cured from talking?”
“We have the power to wipe their minds.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.”
“Just trust us, babe. We have no reason to lie about it.”
She expelled a long sigh. “I guess not.”
“Most other shifters respect what we do here. Those who want to join the colony can do so, subject to certain criteria, but they have to obey our rules. We have a council, headed by Rafe, on which all alphas serve. We make the rules and enforce them for the good of everyone.”
“The downside of living here,” Bryce said, “is that we’re different.”
“Well yeah, I guess you would be.”
Jared had expected disbelief and sarcasm. At least she hadn’t laughed her ass off and quit the place. Not yet at any rate. “Luckily for you, we were returning from a night out in the national park when we found you. We shifted back in the street instead of doing it indoors, like we normally would. If we hadn’t, then…” He spread his hands, imagining she’d get the picture without him saying anything more.
“I see.”
“In Impulse we live three years to every human one,” Bryce explained. “That’s another reason why rogue bears, lions, and wolves want to get their paws on the place.”
“Wait a minute, are you telling me that—”
“In human years, I’m almost ninety,” Jared said, smiling.
“He doesn’t look too shabby for an old guy, does he, honey?”
Jared shot Bryce the finger. “Bryce is a baby. He’s not even eighty yet.”
“So your enemies want to benefit from longevity and, presumably, profit financially from curing illnesses.”
“Right, now you’re getting it.” Jared lifted a stray strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. “And we can’t let that happen.”
“So presumably you’re telling me all this because it affects my situation somehow.”
“Right.” Jared paused. “Vadim has identified that policeman you sketched as a rogue bear shifter from Tallahassee.”
“What!” She opened her eyes so wide that the irises formed perfect silvery circles. “Why? I don’t understand.”
“We definitely didn’t want to tell you this bit, and wouldn’t if there was any other way.” Jared paused. “The thing is, each generation of shifters must mate either with another shifter of the same breed or with a human. That way it keeps the bloodlines free from interbreeding.”
“It’s especially important for alphas to find the right mate since they have overall responsibility for the survival of their species,” Bryce explained.
“It’s a duty we alphas take very seriously,” Jared added. “Bryce and I need a human mate, and if we don’t find one soon our powers, especially mine because I’m older and weaker, will diminish, and we’ll finish up not being able to shift.”
“That might sound like no big deal to you,” Bryce said, tag-teaming Jared’s explanation. “The only way I can describe it is like being a man in a woman’s body. You have all the feminine instincts but male bits and absolutely no one can understand why you’re so upset about it. It will be like that for us if our powers go. We’ll still have feline shifter instincts but won’t be able to act upon them.”
“So why not go out and find a couple of females—hang on, you said you need a mate between you. You plan to share.” She paused, snatching one hand free to play abstractedly with her lower lip. “Chantal said something about her guys. I didn’t understand at the time, but now I—”
“Precisely. Chantal’s human, so are the mates of all the other alphas. They’ll answer any questions you might have,” Jared said. “And if we have sex with a human it’s a lifetime commitment, so it’s important to get the right person. If we choose the wrong one, it would be worse in many respects than remaining celibate.”
“Er, excuse me for bringing this up, but you didn’t act like guys with no experience of sex in the massage room this morning.”
Jared chuckled. “I didn’t say we don’t have sex, but it’s with each other.”
She gaped at them. “You’re gay?”
“Nope, we can’t wait to get it on with our mate,” Bryce said, “but what are we supposed to do while we wait for her to come along? All the alphas behave the same way and still have fun together as well as with their mates. It’s an arrangement that seems to work just fine for all concerned.”
Caitlyn’s eyes gleamed, as though she had no trouble believing it. “I still don’t understand why this concerns me.”
“Our enemies can’t just walk in and take Impulse from us. We have it far too well protected for that. So they have to try and tempt us out of the place in small groups, especially us alphas.”
“Take down an alpha and the future of that entire species becomes threatened,” Bryce explained.
“Right, and when I went to that conference in Fort Lauderdale some of our enemies would have been there. They always are if our presence outside of Impulse is publicized. That’s why we always travel with protection. Anyway, they would have seen the way you and I interacted, probably read my thoughts and—”
“Hang on, are you saying they thought you were interested in me as what you describe as a ‘suitable mate’?” She stood up and shared an astounded glare between them. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“About being a suitable mate.” Jared spoke softly, caressing her with his eyes as he did so. “Oh no, they got that dead right. I should have been more careful.”
“We all have momentary infatuations.”
It was a hell of a lot more than that, but now wasn’t the time to
say so. He absolutely didn’t want to pressure her into anything she might later regret. “Right,” he said easily, “and unfortunately your policeman is using what he thinks I feel for you to try and manipulate us.”
“I don’t see how.”
“The Tallahassee bears have your friend Mia.”
She jerked upright. “You sure?”
“It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”
She let out a mirthless chuckle. “And everything else does, to you two at any rate.”
“They did what they had to do to get you here.”
“Including shooting Tony?” She gulped. “Why do that?”
“Because we think they arranged for the restaurant to be empty of everyone except you and Tony. They waited until you were momentarily out of sight and then attacked Tony.”
“They knew I was watching?” She shuddered. “The guy looked my way, but I thought—”
“Yeah, they had to be ruthless and make sure you saw the gunman’s face. It was the only way to make sure you ran in this direction.”
“That’s crazy. I could have gone anywhere.”
“No, the policeman was close enough to play with your head. You were never gonna go anywhere except Impulse. You said yourself you had no idea why you came here.”
“Okay, so just supposing that I believe this crazy story, I’m here now, so how does that help them?”
“Tony wasn’t abducting young girls. Vadim found out he’s a gambler with huge debts. The bears probably asked him to hold on to Mia for a while in exchange for writing those debts off. They also left an easy trail for you to follow to his restaurant, where he just happened to have a vacancy for a server. I wondered about that, but now it makes sense.”
“So Mia’s alive and safe?” she asked, her eyes alight with hope.
“Yes, they need to keep her alive to get to us.”
“How?” she asked, exasperation in her tone.
“Well, darlin’, we’re guessing you’ll get a call from Mia in a day or two, asking you to go and get her,” Bryce said.
“And the bears know damned well we won’t let you go alone,” Jared added, scowling.